Etymologically
Log in

lecture

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 03:55. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Forms

lecture f (plural lectures)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin lēctūra (“reading; studies, learning; legal commentary”), recorded in the 14th century.[2][3][4][5][6][7] The Latin noun is derived, like lēctor (“reader”), from lēctum, the supine of legō (“to gather; to read”).[3][8][5] Wiktionary gives the source as the feminine of lēctūrus.[1] Picoche places it among the learned words of the family of lire, which goes back to an Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to gather”).[6]

The sense “lecture, talk”, and probably the parliamentary sense, came from English lecture, itself from the same Medieval Latin word or from French.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1350 in the poems of Gilles li Muisis, meaning “instruction, teaching”;[2][3] the Grand Robert has récit “account” in 1352, and the GLLF dates that sense to 1362.[4][5] About 1380 Jean des Preis used it for a liturgical text and for the knowledge gained by reading.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The everyday sense, the act of reading aloud, is recorded only in 1445, and reading to oneself, for instruction or pleasure, in 1561.[2][3] A royal ordinance of 1498 uses it for the teaching of doctors at the university.[8][5] By metonymy it named what one reads (1676, Madame de Sévigné), and by extension the deciphering of any notation, first music (1741).[2][3]

Under English influence the word took the senses “sermon” (1717) and “lecture” (1795), now archaic.[2][3] The parliamentary sense, each discussion of a bill by an assembly, is first recorded in 1789 and seems to be an anglicism too.[2][3][9] In 1894 the phrase être en lecture, said of a lent book or newspaper, was applied in slang to a prostitute busy with a client.[3] In connection with lecteur, the word took the technical sense of playing back recorded sound (1959, tête de lecture), and senses in computing.[3][2]

Timeline

  • c. 1350 – “Instruction”, in Gilles li Muisis.[2]
  • c. 1380 – A liturgical text; learning from books.[2]
  • 1445 – Reading aloud, in the Livre Roisin.[2]
  • 1561 – Reading to oneself, in Grévin.[2]
  • 1676 – What one reads, in Madame de Sévigné.[2]
  • 1741 – Reading music.[2]
  • 1789 – A reading of a bill.[2][9]
  • 1835 – Cabinet de lecture in the Académie dictionary.[5]
  • 1959 – Playback of recorded sound.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of reading, deciphering what is written: la lecture d'une carte, lecture à voix haute.[10][2]
  2. The reading of a book or text: plongé dans la lecture d'un roman; reading as an activity or pastime.[10][11]
  3. Something read: de bonnes lectures.[2][8]
  4. A reading aloud to an audience: donner lecture d'une lettre.[8][1]
  5. An interpretation of a text or a situation: une lecture politique des faits.[1][11]
  6. (politics) Each reading of a bill by a parliamentary assembly: en première lecture.[2][9]
  7. (electronics, computing) playback of recorded sound or images; reading of data: tête de lecture.[2][1]

Word family

  • relecture

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ a b Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 235a
  8. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  10. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)